Abstract
Postabsorptive serum iron level was determined after oral administration of the compounds to human. In serum and whole blood, $Fe^{3+}$ was measured by ion chromatography (IC) using a pyridine-2,6-dicarboxylic acid (PDCA) as an eluent. The serum sample solutions were pretreated with I N HCI and 50% TCA. The whole blood sample solutions were treated with 3 N HCI for 30 min at $125^{\circ}C$. The limit of detection (LOD) of the IC technique is $0.2 {\mu}M$ for$Fe^{2+}$and 0.1 $\mu$M for $Fe^{3+}$. The area under concentration (AUC) can be obtained by the above analytical condition. In addition, to compare the stability of $Fe^{2+}$ to that of $Fe^{3+}$ in pharamaceutical preparations, accelerated stability test was carried out. After storing the samples under $40^{\circ}C$, 75%RH in light-resistant container for various time intervals, the contents of iron of different valencies were determined separately by the IC technique and the change and/or the interchange of among those iron species in preparations was investigated. Iron raw materials are stable, but $Fe^{2+}$ in$Fe^{3+}$ source materials was slightly converted to $Fe^{3+}$ by oxidation. $Fe^{2+}$ in$Fe^{3+}$ source raw materials and $Fe^{3+}$ in $Fe^{2+}$ raw materials are determined as impurities. Therefore, IC technique is found to be an appropriate method for comparative evaluation of dissimilar bioavailability of $Fe^{2+}$ and $Fe^{3+}$, stability of $Fe^{2+}$ and $Fe^{3+}$ raw materials and preparations.